Saturday’s game against the Washington State Cougars was a test of toughness as Utah opened Pac 12 play with a 73-71 win against a physical Washington State team.
In a game of runs and physical play, Utah stars Dani Rodriguez and Emily Potter stepped up to the plate in a big way for the Utes. Potter finished with 10 points and 18 rebounds and anchored Utah’s strong defensive effort against the Cougars. Potter is excited about the win, especially considering the losses the team suffered last season.
“Its really fun to be a part of,” Potter said. “We lost a lot of close games last year, and it all prepared us [for close games] this year.”
Rodriguez played the role of pure point guard, dishing out eight assists in the first half. She finished with 12 points and nine assists and commanded the offense through the Cougars defensive storm.
The Utes reeled a bit early in the first period, struggling to adjust to the physical brand of basketball played by Wazzou, but Potter and Rodriguez controlled the flow of the first quarter to take a 20-16 lead at the end of the period.
Potter ended the first with nine points and eight rebounds on 4-of-4 shooting. In one sequence Potter dove to the floor to secure a loose ball, tipped it to Valerie Nawahine, reposted and demanded the ball, got the hoop and the harm, converting the and-one opportunity. While scoring wouldn’t come as easy for the rest of the game, Potter had her fingerprints all over this one with her rebounding and defensive presence.
Head coach Lynne Roberts was proud of the way her team was able to hang in there against Washington State.
“It was very physical,” Roberts said. “Washington State did a really nice job defensively of just making things really hard. We had faced defensive pressure in the preseason but not that physical.”
Utah had secured a seemingly comfortable lead over the Cougars following a second period in which Utah outscored Wazzou, 21-12, including a Dani Rodriguez three-pointer to just beat the halftime horn to out the Utes up 41-28.
However, the Cougars stormed back in the third, bolsterd by the play of their star wing, Borislava Hristova. After shooting just 3-for-10 for six points in the first half, Hristova came back in the third period with 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting.
“She has all three parts of her game — she can shoot the three, she can curl and shoot that pull-up and then she can go to the bucket,” Roberts said. “When you have all three levels and you understand how to read help, you’re a pretty good scorer.”
Heading into the final quarter of play, Utah led Wazzou 57-55. A game that had been characterized by fast breaks and early offense in the first three quarters had become a grit and grind slugfest in the fourth.
With the game tied and just under three minutes to play, a struggling Nawahine earned a trip to the line and sunk two free-throws, putting the Utes back on top, 70-68. Wazzou wing Taylor Edmundson then answered with a tough three-point shot to put the Cougars up one.
With the game hanging in the balance, Rodriguez cut into the lane off of a Potter pick and scooped in a layup, putting the Utes back on top. As the final seconds of the game ticked away, the Cougars found Hristova open for three in the corner to win the game, but her shot sailed wide right and the Utes secured their first win to open conference play since joining the Pac 12 in 2011.
Rodriguez thinks it’s these types of games that can really give the team a boost.
“Of course you want to blow teams out, but to win a game like that, it just puts more confidence [in us] that we can tough those out,” Rodriguez said.
Utah is now 9-3 on the season, undefeated at home, and will have little time to celebrate its first conference win as the Utes play Washington Monday night in the Huntsman Center. The game will tipoff at 6 p.m. MST.
@westinjay